A couple weeks ago, RELACIONES PELIGROSAS (weeknights at 10 p.m. ET on Telemundo) announced it was in its final episodes (últimos capítulos). Since then, rather than moving toward tying up loose ends, a rash of new subplots have been launched: Ana’s pregnancy with two possible fathers: her current squeeze Santiago or her ex-husband Gilberto; Gilberto’s attempted seduction of Teresa for her money; Teresa becoming guardian to an unwilling Elizabeth after her parents’ murders; Joaco framed for murder; JP’s brother hiring Monica to seduce JP; Patty’s mother and ex-fiancé Augusto (both completely new characters) coming out of nowhere to pressure her into marrying Augusto, who is apparently rich and at death’s door, but really just wants revenge for Patty humiliating him by leaving him at the altar.

It is difficult to get invested in these new plot strands this late in the telenovela’s run; but the Patty/ex-fiancé story, utter bunk though it is, at least has afforded Patty portrayer Ana Layevska some substantive material to play. Patty’s visit to her mother and subsequent guilt-ambushing by her ex, who told Patty he was dying (later revealed to the viewers to be a ruse) and wanted her to make his final months happy were exquisitely mortifying. In the scenes with her mother, Ana Layevska does some bravura work – racked with guilt yet determined not to allow that guilt to stand in the way of her own happiness with Joaco, somehow she manages to be waveringly indecisive and steadfastly determined almost simultaneously, there is a kind of sad fracturing within Patty, aspects in her speech and manner suggesting a regression into the frightened girl again under her domineering mother’s thumb but then she snaps back into the resilient young woman who ultimately managed to break away from her mother and obtain her independence. There was a small moment I especially loved when Patty walked into her mother’s residence, Layevska showed a sense of trepidation circumnavigating a house plant in her path – as if in her mother’s presence, no leaf may be disturbed. The overwhelming impression left in the scenes is that of a dreadfully stifling upbringing dominated by shame-based discipline; in these brief scenes with her mother, Layevska manages to backfill, through her performance, the underpinnings of the profound psychological hang-ups that left Patty unable to consummate a relationship until the age of thirty.

UNA MAID EN MANHATTAN (weeknights at 8 p.m. ET on Telemundo) entered its últimas semanas (final weeks) this week. As the stall stories of Marisa’s imprisonment and Lalo’s coma concluded, they were replaced with the umpteenth instance of Marisa (Litzy) putting a halt to her romance with Cristobal (Eugenio Siller) because she was afraid their relationship would hurt his senatorial campaign. The telenovela has repeatedly thrust this barely credible obstacle between the protagonists, with only slight variations, almost from the start, and needless to say, it has long become tiresome. The lack of more substantial hurdles for the protagonists to overcome in their relationship is probably the biggest flaw of this pleasant, though unexceptional telenovela. About the only question left is will Cristobal, during this latest break up, follow the unfortunate telenovela cliché of the male protagonist bedding another woman, in this case, the villainess, Sara (Vanessa Villela). It’s worth noting on Telemundo’s current slate of telenovelas, Cristobal is the only male protagonist who hasn’t slept with another woman after falling for the female protagonist (though RELACIONES PELIGROSAS tried to mitigate Mauricio’s romp with Olivia by making it drunken sex). It’s also worth noting the only sexual partner for the female protagonists on all three shows have been the male protagonists.

The Cinderella theme was especially conspicuous this week on UN REFUGIO PARA EL AMOR (weeknights at 7 p.m. ET on Univision) with the Torreslanda company’s twentieth anniversary celebration serving as the ball, gown drama for the telenovela’s Cinderella, maid Luciana (Zuria Vega), and her eventual triumphant, head-turning arrival at the party climaxing with a romantic dance with the prince, Rodrigo (Gabriel Soto).

I still find the pueblo life scenes at Luciana’s home village tedious, but I also get those scenes provide a necessary contrast with the upper-crust sphere the Torreslandas inhabit and drive home the immense class differences between Rodrigo and Luciana, an aspect that is largely missing from the other current Cinderella telenovela, UNA MAID EN MANHATTAN, where the different worlds are spoken of in the dialogue, but rarely depicted in a meaningful fashion.

This week, the Torreslanda matriarch Roselena (Laura Flores) was given greater dimension. It was revealed Roselena’s dislike of Luciana isn’t merely an issue of class prejudice, but has to do with Luciana’s resemblance to a woman from the past named Aurora, who Roselena claims almost destroyed her marriage to Maximino (Roberto Blandón). Only slivers of the backstory are being provided thus far, but Roselena is suffering horrific guilt from some past wrong she committed against Aurora, and Luciana is a daily reminder of that wrong. Racked with guilt, Roselena is in constant consultation with her priest, but is unable to actually bring herself to confess. Roselena’s guilt adds a facet to her habitual hand washing – no longer just an obsessive-compulsive trait, it now also suggests the torment of Lady Macbeth and blood on the hands (“Yet here’s a spot”). Laura Flores’s audacious performance further descended into madness when Roselena suffers a raging breakdown during an argument with her husband over Aurora, and it was a shocking turn to see the thus far rigid, cold woman collapse into a bawling mess on her bedroom floor, screaming over and over again as her husband left the room, “It was your fault!”

EL TALISMÁN (weekdays at 1 p.m. ET on Univision) ends its run this week with its finale scheduled for Friday, June 15th. A near total misfire, not surprisingly, its missteps persist even into the final weeks with the odious murder of Mariana (Karyme Lozano). When a character is made to suffer as much as this one - her mother dies in the first episode; her father dies of cancer; then, in a truly repugnant scene, her unborn child is murdered when she is repeatedly kicked by the telenovela’s villain; she loses her mind from the trauma; and she is then kidnapped and abandoned in the street – it is not Pollyannaish to hope the character finds an eventually happier fate than to be shot dead by the same man who murdered her child. This was Karyme Lozano’s first telenovela is five years and she was one of the bright spots, making the most of the meaty material provided by the ordeals inflicted on her character. Sadly, the other standout performer in the cast, Marcela Mar, wasn’t afforded the same opportunities and remained criminally underutilized throughout the show’s run.

Univision has not run any promotions for a telenovela to replace EL TALISMÁN leaving me to believe they will be extending one of the currently airing telenovelas, CORAZÓN APASIONADO or AMORCITO CORAZÓN, to two hours, probably the latter as it runs over two hundred episodes.

EMPERATRIZ (weekdays at 1 p.m. ET on Azteca America, no English friendly options) is a mixed bag, horribly conventional a great deal of the time, but I continue to be entertained by Gabriela Spanic’s performance as the title character - it’s the only categorical diva turn in any of the first-run telenovelas currently airing in this country. The character seems one of those protagonist/antagonist hybrids as this week she used quite commonplace villainess machinations in her attempt to split up the man she loves, Alejandro (Bernie Paz), from his fiancée, Isabel (Marcela Pezet). Honestly, Alejandro, a rather dull fellow, hardly seems worthy of Emperatriz. She proves unsuccessful and at the wedding, victorious Isabel lays into Emperatriz with a marvelous stream of invective capped off with a glass of champagne tossed in Emperatriz’s face. This, of course, means war and an outrageous scene follows of a crazed Emperatriz throwing rocks up at the window of the hotel room where the newlyweds are spending their wedding night, shattering the glass.

R.G. Morin writes a weekly column for We Love Soaps, "Telenovela Watch: A
weekly look at the world of telenovelas for non-Spanish speakers." For
feedback or questions, you can email R.G. Morin at argeemorin@hotmail.com.

4 comments:

I totally agree with your analysis of UMEM and RP two of the novelas I watch or rather in the case of UMEM used to watch religiously until the writers botched the stories. What attracted me to this novela was the promising love story of Cris and Marisa. Their first encounter @ dimwit Amelia, their subsequent lovemaking that first night. Yes, there were obstacles between Crissa, but they had enough love to conquer. I hate that the writers threw sara in the mix and turn her into the winner. She never got caught for any of her sins. That was the problem. The never ending need for Marisa to always be so strong, afraid to let such a good man like Cris love her. C'mon, the stories would have been so much more appealing had the writers allow Marisa to fight for her man. Instead she just give him up on national TV no less while Sara continue to walk free. The last straw for me was how they just frame Marisa with these jewels and throw her in prison while Lalo suffered. Kudos to Cris for being ever vigil @ Lalo's bedside. That alone should have brought Crissa together stronger than before. What does Marisa do to show her love cop out with this lame unselfish act. I'll pass. The show should have ended a long time ago or @ the least switch the writers. I could have done a much better job. I'm just saying.

RP had potential, I loved how they were bold enough to make Miranda and Mauricio believable. JP is incredible, phenomenal actor. The new direction of the show is what killed it. Why make Ana pregnant now? That should have been earlier. They botched some great stories that were worth exploring. For example Diego's father and his attempt to cure his son's sexual identity. Cassius's bullying and his Haitian father threatening to send him to Haiti for misbehaving, that is so true in the Haitian community, I can identify. Paty's sexual difficulties. Leo's relationship with his abusive father. The possibilities were endless. I wish the writers had explored these topics in depth. My favorite character Gilberto. So funny, I will miss this show.